Windows 10 forced upgrade wiping out my network adapter

dalchina said:

I tried the "hide or show" and when I ran it it said it could not find anything to hide.

Unfortunate- another experienced contributor here said running that also checked for updates, so if the upgrade was found, it could be hidden. (Option 1, 9)
I've not used this so can't comment from experience....

I have, so can comment from experience. I use wushowhide on my test machine (System Two below) when restoring earlier versions of Windows (1511, 1607, etc.). I use it to prevent it automatically upgrading itself to the next version.

wushowhide can only hide an update when it appears in the list of available updates for your machine. The problem is that after rolling back to your previous version the features update may not appear for a while.

Checking for updates in Settings > Update & Security will trigger the upgrade if a features update like 'Features update for Windows 10, version 1709' appears in the list.

When you run wushowhide this also checks for updates, but in this case will not automatically start the update. The trick is that you have to get in first with wushowhide to hide the features update before windows update makes its own check for updates. For me that's easy to achieve, I run wushowhide as soon as I've restored any of my older images.

You may need to prevent windows update from checking automatically while you wait for the features update to appear to be sure you get in first with wushowhide. Option Five here may help achieve that.

Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10

dalchina said:

I guess it's called marketing - buy Pro and you have more control.

Your other option is to disable Windows Update by other means:
Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10 Windows Update Activation Tutorials
- you will need to look for the sections about Home- you don't have the group policy editor - which is in Pro. (Hint there are said to be ways to enable that in Home if you search- no guarantee on that).

But there's a lot that's poorly conceived for Windows as a general consumer product, and that's evident in the way MS has changed its stance - very very slowly- on some things, and created so much adverse comment on others. An unfortunate consequence of a dominant market position I suppose.

Thanks, I can check out that link you shared, but I have already tried two different things in the registry and one thing in services.msc and it still forces the update.

If I could get my Ethernet and wifi network adapters back on the latest version I wouldn't need to block the updates, so first I'm going to try more things in hopes I can do that.

Bree said:

I have, so can comment from experience. I use wushowhide on my test machine (System Two below) when restoring earlier versions of Windows (1511, 1607, etc.). I use it to prevent it automatically upgrading itself to the next version.

wushowhide can only hide an update when it appears in the list of available updates for your machine. The problem is that after rolling back to your previous version the features update may not appear for a while.

Checking for updates in Settings > Update & Security will trigger the upgrade if a features update like 'Features update for Windows 10, version 1709' appears in the list.

When you run wushowhide this also checks for updates, but in this case will not automatically start the update. The trick is that you have to get in first with wushowhide to hide the features update before windows update makes its own check for updates. For me that's easy to achieve, I run wushowhide as soon as I've restored any of my older images.

You may need to prevent windows update from checking automatically while you wait for the features update to appear to be sure you get in first with wushowhide. Option Five here may help achieve that.

Enable or Disable Windows Update Automatic Updates in Windows 10

Thanks if it was mentioned before then I missed it that "after rolling back to your previous version the features update may not appear for a while" so I'll have to check it occasionally.

I tried the "services" idea more than once but it still didn't stop the updates.

On another forum (I think) someone shared a way to set an Ethernet connection to "metered" to try to avoid problem updates, here is the link they shared - https://www.windows10forums.com/arti...home-users.48/

dalchina said:

Yes, there's a tutorial on that here, however using metered connections doesn't guarantee stopping 'important' downloads, MS says.

Thanks, I wonder if MS considers the upgrade to the latest version of windows a download that will happen metered or not ? (I guess I'll know by tomorrow if it forced the upgrade again)

I tried but so far I was not able to fix either the Ethernet or the wifi adapter when on the latest version.

The upgrade does not delete my Ethernet and wifi adapters, but it somehow makes them unusable, when I check each of them in the device manager it has the same error message for both -

"This device cannot find enough resources it can use. (code 12)"

and nothing I tried has been able to make them usable again EXCEPT using recovery to restore the previous version of windows.

Would the protection I get from having a Softether VPN server on that computer make it so not having all the Microsoft security updates not a real concern ?

.....in case your not familiar with that free open source software - https://www.softether.org/

Not that I still would not try to fix things so I can have the latest security updates with still having my network adapters usable, but wouldn't the VPN keep my computer safe in the meantime ?

dalchina said:

Yes, there's a tutorial on that here...

The tutorial is Set Ethernet Connection as Metered or Unmetered in Windows 10
note that from Creators Update (1703) on you can turn on metered Ethernet in Settings > Network & internet > Ethernet.

...however using metered connections doesn't guarantee stopping 'important' downloads, MS says.

From Creators Update (1703) on, it says...

...but I have never seen this work in 1703. It seems to work as intended in Fall Creators Update (1709).

Bree said:

Since the Creators Update the mysterious wording in Windows Update has puzzled many, and Microsoft hasn't exactly been forthcoming. Just what updates are "required to keep Windows running smoothly"?

...Checking for updates over metered connections now appears to work as intended, and it is becoming clear which updates are "required to keep Windows running smoothly". Apparently a Flash security update is too urgent to delay, while a cumulative update can wait for an unmetered connection.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...ml#post1184354

Bree said:

The tutorial is Set Ethernet Connection as Metered or Unmetered in Windows 10
note that from Creators Update (1703) on you can turn on metered Ethernet in Settings > Network & internet > Ethernet.


From Creators Update (1703) on, it says...

...but I have never seen this work in 1703. It seems to work as intended in Fall Creators Update (1709).

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...ml#post1184354

Thanks, I have that Ethernet connection set to "metered" so by tomorrow I show know whether or not it stops the update that messes with my network adapters and makes them unusable.

dalchina said:

Have you uninstalled the drivers and rebooted? I'd guess you have.

There are plenty of references to that error message
This device cannot find enough resources it can use. (code 12)
so researching that may suggest sthg.

E.g.
that means you are probably run out from available pci lanes ... try set pci-e in your bios to GEN 1 , also if you have a option try to set "above 4g decoding" to enable .
Also disable any unused peripherals in bios ... sound card , wifi whatever you are not using
Might have change pci speed to 8x 8 x 4 or something similar , im not sure what your mobo supporting
This device cannot find enough free resources.. 6gpu rig

Which suggests the problem may actually be a PCI driver rather than the drivers for those devices.
(Device Manager, System Devices)

What model is your laptop? How old is it? Which Windows did it come with?

Have you looked at your Device Manager- any yellow triangles?
Example of very old drivers:
Device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12) Solved - Windows 10 Forums

If you haven't yet managed to disable the Windows update service (which kills Windows update) here's an easy way-

Thanks !

Acer Aspire 9410z

I think it originally came with Vista, then I later upgraded to an early version of windows 10 Home version.

I'll have to get some screen shots, but in my device manager there are some devices with many duplicate entries (not the network adapters though)

Your PCI driver idea sounds like a good possibility to check out, also what do you think of another possibility someone on another forum suggested -

(quote)
That error you are getting is basically telling you that more than one device has been assigned the same I/O thus both running devices are trying to grab the same memory slot per se, and hence the troubles.

This can occur if the BIOS has been incorrectly setup, or altered, or the operating system [ windows 10 ] has corrupted the settings.

If it was a bios issue, then checking for an update to your BIOS could resolve things, and if there is no update, then another way around this would be to remove the CMOS battery for a couple of minutes, to clear bios memory, then reinsert the battery and go into your BIOS and make sure its set to default settings.
(end of quote)

I'll have to check out that winareo tweaker.